


Nico Meets the Solace Family

by Honora_arts



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Cute, Established Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Nico di Angelo, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I gave will little siblings, Nico di Angelo Needs a Hug, Nico is a Dork, Soft Boyfriends Nico di Angelo and Will Solace, They love him, Will Solace is a Ball of Sunshine, Will Solace is a Dork, Will Solace is a Good Boyfriend
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:34:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27054256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Honora_arts/pseuds/Honora_arts
Summary: Will takes Nico to meet his family and wonderful chaos ensues. The son of Hades is nervous to meet Will's family, but he truly has nothing to worry about. That is, until the monsters show up at Will's house because of a phone call.“Oh my gods, Nico! How do you keep appearing everywhere?” He said as he caught his breath. Nico laughed quietly.“You really need to stop expecting me NOT to be lurking somewhere in the shadows, Will.”
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 21
Kudos: 178





	1. Chapter 1

It was nearing night and most of the campers were heading off to sleep in their respective cabins. Only a few lingered by the fading campfire and the camp was quiet. Nico had just finished training after dinner and was heading back to his cabin. Luckily, the infirmary was empty so he could probably expect Will over soon. Nico was only a few feet away from his cabin when he heard the door to the Apollo cabin slam open. He stood and watched as Will Solace hurriedly pushed himself out of the door and towards the Hades cabin. He must not have seen Nico when he passed by because he knocked on the door and called out his name a few times. He laughed to himself and walked over to the blonde. When he got closer, he called out to Will who turned and nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Oh my gods, Nico! How do you keep appearing everywhere?” He said as he caught his breath. Nico laughed quietly.

“You really need to stop expecting me NOT to be lurking somewhere in the shadows, Will.”

“Well then stop lurking in the shadows, Death Boy. I know it’s a part of your aesthetic and everything, but I want to see you.” he laughed and Nico stared at his boyfriend, a smile ghosting over his features. Sometimes he couldn’t believe how lucky he was to have someone like Will by his side. The amazing ray of sunshine that he was.

“Why did you sprint over here like a madman? Did you need something?”

“Can’t I just want to see my boyfriend? Urgently needing cuddles from you is a good reason to rush over here, sunshine.”

“I guess so.” Nico smiled and made his way up the steps of his cabin, leading Will inside and closing the door after him. The two of them often spent their evenings together. They would spend hours talking, watching movies, or simply just enjoying being in each other’s presence. Will sat down on his bed and Nico began to follow, but he quickly remembered he still had his sword by his side. He unhooked it and carefully placed it in the corner of his cabin. Will watched him, but he seemed a little uneasy-like there was something on his mind. His leg was bouncing quickly and the adrenaline in his body was clearly noticeable. Nico sat down next to Will and looked at him skeptically.

“Are you okay, Solace? you seem a little...hyper.” Will just shook his head.

“I’m fine. We’re demigods, having ADHD is just part of the package.”

“Okay, whatever you say. But-“

“Can I hug you?” Will quickly interrupted. Nico again showed him a look of concern, but hastily complied. Since Nico was very iffy about being touched, Will always made sure to ask before he initiated any kind of physical contact. Will definitely didn’t need to ask because Nico never minded him being so close to him, but he was still so grateful that he did. Simply because it showed how much Will respected and cared for the boy. Will relaxed into the hug and held on for quite a while. Nico drew small circles on his back, something Will often did to comfort him when he had a nightmare or was distraught. Something was definitely up with the son of Apollo.

He waited until Will pulled away before asking him if he was okay. Will didn’t answer at first, but eventually worked up the courage to say something.

“I’m fine.” He said. Nico gave him a ‘what in the world are you talking about” look.

“It’s true! I’m fine it’s just...I got a call from home a little while ago.” Nico’s head sprung up and he stared cautiously at Will. Had something happened to Will’s family? He felt his chest tighten with worry and he looked at his boyfriend, preparing himself for the worst. Will seemed to catch onto his reaction and quickly waved his hands.

“It wasn’t anything bad! Don’t worry!” He wrapped his hand around Nico’s, waiting for the tension to seep out of him. When it didn’t, he sighed, “Nico, you really need to stop assuming the worst all the time.”

“Hey! I can’t help it!” Nico pouted, making his words gentler than normal, “Now, please, tell me what’s going on.”

“It’s really nothing. it’s just...my Mom wants to invite us over for dinner. She misses me and wants to meet you. I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about it.” Will said, looking carefully for his boyfriend’s reaction. He never knew how Nico would react to some things. Things that Will wouldn’t even bat an eye over, Nico would lose it. He still remembers when Nico had first come out. He was so scared of what Will would think of him that he tripped and fell into a lake. In winter. Hopefully his reaction to this announcement wouldn’t be as extreme.

Luckily for him, it wasn’t. Nico just sighed and laid back in his bed.

“Oh my gods, Will is that all? You had me thinking something bad happened!” Will laughed and apologized, happy to see that Nico was taking the news much better than he’d anticipated. He was happy to see that Nico was becoming more comfortable with these things. The question still remained, though, if the son of Hades would accept the invitation.

“So...do you think you’d be willing to go?” Will gave him a pleading look. He really wanted to see his mom and having Nico along with him would make everything even better. Nico sat up and stared up at his boyfriend.

“You-you really want me to come?” Will drew a hand to his face.

“Nico. YES. Why do you think I was so nervous to ask you?”

“I don’t know! You could have very well been nervous that I’d say yes.”

“Nico.” Will shifted to his knees and placed himself in front of the boy, “If I hadn’t wanted you to come, why would I have even told you about it.” Nico contemplated this and drew on his signature scowl.

“I guess you wouldn’t.”

“Exactly. Now, come give me a hug.” Nico shifted and hugged the blonde, curling into his chest. The two stayed like that for a bit. Night was coming closer and soon Will would have to sneak back over to his own cabin. They would spend nights together sometimes, but they reserved those times for when one of them really needed it. Before he had to leave, Nico and Will had to discuss how they were going to get there.

“So, what’s the plan?” Nico asked, playing with Will’s hair.

“Well...that’s a good question. I’m not really sure. We could take a plane there?”

“Um...I mean I would, but that’s Zeus’s domain. I’m not really sure if that’s a great idea.” A look of remembrance passed over his features, but he quickly shook it off. Just then, an evil smirk pulled at his lips, “Are you up for a little shadow travel, Solace?”

“Nico you can’t be serious. I live in Texas, it’s far away.”

“Compared to everywhere else I’ve gone, that’s hardly a distance. And I have been practicing more. Getting used to making larger jumps.” Will gave him a dangerous look.

“I truly hope you don’t mean you’ve been overdoing it, Di Angelo.”

“Will, it’s fine” Nico scoffed, “I’m doing it properly. Here.” The brunette held out his hand for Will to take. Will placed his hand over Nico’s and used his powers to check the boy’s health. The golden, yellow glow that emitted from his palms never ceased to amaze the son of Hades as he watched the process unfold. Will carefully scanned him and only felt a slight increase in darkness in his system. Pulling back, he sighed. Nico seemed to be doing alright, but he couldn’t help still being worried.

“See?”

“Okay, fine. We’ll use shadow travel. But I’m watching you, Nico. You know I check on you all the time because I love you, right?”

“I know, Will. I love you too. Which is why I’m being careful.” Nico smirked and nudged his shoulder. Will smiled at him and drew his hand over the boy cheek, waiting. Nico nodded and Will gave him a quick kiss. Both of the boys blushed and looked at each other. Will looked out the window and realized how late it had gotten.

“If you want, I could just shadow travel you back to your cabin? It’ll give you some practice for when we make the bigger jump.”

“Thanks, but no thanks, Nico. I need you in top shape for when we do have to go.”

“OKAY, Will.”

“I love you.”

“Yeah, yeah I love you too.”

With that, Will slipped out of the cabin and dashed back to his own. When he got back, Kayla gave him a knowing look. He rolled his eyes and went over to her, confirming that he’d been able to get Nico to come. She squealed in excitement and he hurriedly shushed her, blushing. After calming his sister down, he made his way over to his bunk and flopped down. He smiled to himself and thought about his family back home and...the wonderful family he’d made here.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico and Will shadow travel over to Will’s house and meet his family.

The morning after Nico agreed to come with him to dinner, Will Iris-messaged his mom, letting her know both he and Nico were happy to stop by. They set up a time three days from then. They were going to stay at the Solace’s place for two days before heading back to camp. The three days beforehand would give Will and Nico time to find people to cover their shifts while they were away. Will had to make sure that his shifts at the infirmary were well covered. Since it wasn’t summer quite yet and the camp was emptier than usual, he wasn’t too concerned with leaving his siblings to man it. He made sure to leave some notes just in case, of course. He also told Kayla to Iris-message him if they needed anything. Nico’s arrangements were both simpler and harder. While Nico wasn’t necessarily in charge of anything the way Will was (other than being a fan favorite and unofficial head of sword training), he didn’t have siblings to take over his shifts. Luckily he convinced some Hermes campers to cover for him in exchange for some help with pranks(obviously pranks within reason.) They really got a kick out of using skeleton hands or zombies in their jokes. Nico couldn’t deny he also found some of them really hilarious.

After arranging everything and making sure things would be alright without them at camp, a day had already passed. The second was spent with the two sat in Nico’s cabin talking about Will’s family. Nico was nervous to meet them so he’d asked Will to tell him a bit about them. Will had already told Nico about his mother Naomi Solace, but he filled in the blanks for the rest of his family. After Naomi had Will, she’d gotten married to a guy named Nate Summers. Since Naomi wanted to keep her last name, the couple decided to stick with the name Solace. Naomi and Nate had three children together. The second oldest being Jessica Solace who was fourteen, the middle being Laney Solace who was thirteen, and the youngest being Ben Solace who was six. Will chuckled as he watched Nico try to commit the names to memory.

After it had gotten pretty late, Will snuck out back to his cabin. He made sure to reassure Nico a lot before he left, wanting him to feel comfortable enough about the next day. He wanted to know that Nico would be able to sleep that night since he had to make a large jump the next day. Luckily, Nico seemed to be doing much better with his powers and the affect they had on him wasn’t as severe as before. Still, though, Will was nervous. What if something went wrong? 

The blonde quickly pushed those thoughts to the back of his head. Thinking about those things weren’t going to help him, so he set off for bed. Will needed to make sure he slept well too. He never knew when he was needed for impromptu healing. And with Nico being Nico, he had a hunch he was going to need it.

Will woke up early the next morning and began doing some light packing. He grabbed a bag and placed in there a small first aid kit, a few snacks, water, and a Gatorade. He already had a bag of medical supplies at his house, but you can never be too prepared. He also made sure to grab his bow and quiver. Although he wasn’t too keen on fighting and usually kept to healing whenever there were battles, he never went anywhere without it. At least not anywhere as far as Texas.

As he was packing, Nico materialized out of a shadow by his bed. He had his own small bag slung over his back and his sword sheathed at his side. Will jumped nearly forty feet in the air.

“Nico!? What are you doing!?” Will flushed.

“What? I came to get you.” He shrugged nonchalantly.

“Nico! You shouldn’t even be shadow traveling in the first place! You need to save you energy for the trip.” Also, I very well could have been getting dressed when you popped in, he thought to himself. Will sighed, his face cooling down, and he held the bridge of his nose, “I don’t want you fading on my watch, Death boy.”

“Will, it’s okay. It’s good practice for the trip anyways.”

“But Nico-” he paused knowing that arguing about this particular topic wasn’t going to get them anywhere, “Fine. Whatever. Just no more unnecessary shadow traveling, okay?”

“Alright, Dr. Solace.” Nico laughed and latched onto his boyfriend.

“Are you nervous?”

“Um-I...I guess so, yeah.” Nico looked down, shifting his gaze away from him. Gently, Will put his hand under his chin and guided his eyes back towards his own. He stared confidently into Nico’s onyx eyes.

“It’s okay to be nervous, but I assure you that you have nothing to worry about.” Will said in the most genuine voice he could muster.

“I know. But what if I mess something up?” Nico paused and squirmed uncomfortably, “What if they’re scared of me?”

“Sunshine, they’re not going to be scared of you. First off, they already know you are the son of Hades and are absolutely fine with it. Second, they know how much I love you. My judgement is well trusted in my family.” Will chuckled at that, earning a small smile from the brunette. “Besides, I’ve stuck with you this long, it’d take a lot for me to change my mind.”

“Maybe I better make some changes, then.” Nico smirked playfully, “Test you a bit.”

“Nico-“

“Relax! I’m just kidding.” Nico looked like he wanted to say something else but couldn’t build up the confidence to voice it. Will let it slide since Nico was already very nervous, but he made a mental note of it.

“I know, you idiot. Come on. We should get going.” The two boys pushed themselves up from the ground and made their way outside. It was easier to shadow travel outdoors. There were bigger shadows and the threat of accidentally running into a wall wasn’t nearly as likely. Not that Nico had done that in a while, but since Will was there he wanted to play it a bit safer. Truthfully, Nico was terrified to meet Will’s family. Sure, he could probably recite the history of their family tree after making Will tell him everything there was to know about them, but this was Will’s 'family'. The people who helped shape him into the amazing person that he was. And Nico never really had any family other than Bianca, not that he could remember. Hazel was family to him now, but they hadn’t grown up together-possibly being the reason why the two had such jarringly different personalities. He was just scared he wouldn’t know how to interact with a family, especially when that family was one of someone he cared about more than anything. He tried to push his thoughts back as much as possible-knowing that overthinking these things was not going to help him-and led Will over to a long shadow that stretched across the bottom of a tree. 

“Are you ready?” 

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Will was obviously nervous, but he gripped onto Nico’s hand firmly. Trusting.  
Nico stepped into the shadow and immediately felt the familiar pull of shadow traveling. Compacting the two of them and streaking them across state lines at speeds that should not be physically possible. Nico, still holding on tightly to Will’s hand, stepped out of the shadow. He swayed a bit but remained on his feet. Will on the other hand had hastily wrenched his hand from Nico’s and made a mad dash to a nearby bush to puke. Nico put a comforting hand on his back and sat down next to his boyfriend after he finished. He’d expected this kind of reaction, but it was still alarming to see Will looking sickly. They sat together in silence for a few minutes until the color returned to Will’s face. Carefully, Nico helped Will stand up. 

“Are you okay?” Nico asked cautiously, making sure the son of Apollo could stand on his own.

“Oh my gods, Nico. How do you do this all the time?! That was awful…I don’t even know how you’re still standing. You basically just carried me hundreds of miles and I’M a mess.” Will laughed, finally regaining some of his strength now that he was back in the sunlight. 

“Practice,” Nico chuckled, remembering the first time he ever shadow traveled and passed out for a week. “You get used to it.”

“After experiencing a jump like that, I can absolutely justify my concern when you shadow travel.” Nico just rolled his eyes and grabbed Will’s hand again. They were standing by some trees in a small grassy area. Farther off to their right was a cute two-story house painted yellow with windchimes and faded shudders. Blue plaid curtains were visible from the windows and Nico couldn’t help thinking that the house radiated a similar energy as Will. As he was staring, Will lifted Nico’s hand up and began checking his vitals. Nico looked over at him when he flinched and gently pulled back his hand.

“Will? What’s the matter?”

“Nothing-well not nothing, but I sensed an increase in darkness in you. Nothing astronomical, but definitely an increase. Are you feeling alright?” Will looked at him with concern, but he also looked guilty-as if it was his fault for the spike. 

“I’m fine, Will. Don’t worry. That kind of thing happens after a larger jump. It’ll go down again.” Nico reached out and grabbed his hand again, this time placing a soft kiss on top of his knuckles. Will still looked kind of troubled, but he nodded and pulled him into a hug. 

“Okay. Now, shall we go see my family who already adores you even before meeting you?” Will smiled. Nico rolled his eyes, but he was nervous. 

“Alright. But I’m sorry if I embarrass you, or myself, or-like what if I scare them? I mean they know I’m the son of Hades and all, but actually SEEING me might make them change their minds,“ Nico couldn’t stop the words tumbling from his mouth, “I don’t know how to handle people. What if they think I’m not-“

“Nico! Calm down, sunshine. You’re going to send yourself into a panic at this rate. Please look at me.” Will tilted up his head so their eyes met, “I love you, Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, Ghost King, Death boy, Sunshine, and beautiful boyfriend. So, my family will too.”

“…Okay…” Nico blushed and smiled hesitantly and tightened his hold on his boyfriend’s hand. Together, they walked over to the house and knocked. In barely thirty seconds, Naomi Solace ripped open the door and tackled Will into the biggest hug. After him, she grappled onto Nico who tried to stay rooted to the ground-every fiber of his being resisting his urge to flee. All through this, Will had not relinquished his hold on Nico’s hand and the gesture was greatly appreciated. Once Naomi had nearly squeezed the living daylights out of them, Nico was able to get a proper look at her. She was a larger woman just a few inches over five feet with short curly hair. She had Will’s signature freckles and tanned skin. She wore a pink plaided dress with a light blue apron draped over her. Will was quite lanky, thin, and had a relatively more toned physique, but the resemblance between the two was uncanny. She beamed at them and hastily welcomed them into the house.

“Oh my! It’s so nice to see you, Will! And you must be Nico! I’ve heard so much about you. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you!” Her voice had a strong southern twang to it, something he figured Will might fall into during his time here. And he wasn’t necessarily opposed to it.

“It’s very nice to meet you too, Mrs. Solace.” Nico managed to say, awkwardly smiling.

“Please, you can call me Naomi, dear.” She said kindly, “How about you two come in and have a bite to eat. I want to hear all about your time at camp!” 

Nico and Will followed her into the kitchen and sat down at the country-style table off to the left. Naomi told Will and Nico to place their bags and weapons in the laundry room so they were out of the way. Nico felt strange leaving his sword out, since it was such a dangerous weapon, so he asked if Will could hide it somewhere in his room upstairs. After he came back down, the three of them sat at the table and talked. It was a little after eleven in the morning, but time flew by as Will and his mother caught up. Nico listened while Will and Naomi chatted about things going on at camp, happenings with the rest of the family, and local neighborhood gossip. Nico smiled softly as he watched Will-someone who was already impossibly cheery-brighten even more as he talked with his mom. He knew that Will had missed his mother a lot, but he didn’t think that it was this intense. He was happy that he had this kind of connection with his mom. Shortly after they began their conversation, Naomi had placed out sandwiches for the three of them and they ate an early lunch together. Nico only spoke when spoken to, but he always made sure to let the two know that he was listening to what they were saying. He’d nod along or just add in the occasional “yeah” or “Mmhm.” Nico wasn’t sure how much Will had told his mother about him, but he hopefully didn’t relinquish too much. 

Will and his mother were reminiscing about when he was a kid and he’d get into trouble with his siblings. Apparently, there was one time when Will and his sisters decided to secretly engage in a game of water balloon battles except that-instead of filling the balloons with water- they used paint. It took hours of work and a prayer to get rid of all the paint stains. Nico couldn’t help but laugh as he imagined kid Will pegging his house with destructive, paint filled balloons. Will’s face was red as Naomi explained all about his history with getting into all kinds of mischief, but the blonde was clearly enjoying himself. Naomi turned to Nico.

“Were you as much of a trouble maker as Will was as a kid, Nico?” Nico glanced towards Will. He wasn’t really sure how to respond. He took it that Will hadn’t mentioned that he nearly had no recollection of his childhood after being bathed in the Lethe, and he was both grateful and ungrateful for it. Will gave him a tentative look, but Nico just cleared his throat and said, “I know I was an annoying kid, at least.”

“Oh-all children are annoying. That’s just part of the fun of being a mother.” Naomi laughed and continued, “I take it your mother didn’t mind so much. What is she like?” 

Okay, maybe Will left out a bit TOO much information. Just as Will and Nico were scrambling to either come up with an answer or change the subject, they were saved by the front door swinging open. There, Nate Solace-Naomi’s husband-was bringing in far too many groceries at once. Naomi quickly excused herself before the food ended up on the ground. Will looked at Nico and whispered a sincere apology, taking Nico’s hand under the table. Nico assured him it was fine and pecked him on the cheek with a kiss, but he did ask if they could gear the conversation in a different direction. Will nodded determinedly and squeezed his hand. 

Just as they finished their quiet exchange, Naomi and Nate came bustling into the kitchen, arms loaded with paper grocery bags. Will promptly got up and aided them in making sure the packages were securely left on the counter. Before Naomi and Nate began putting away the food, Nate introduced himself to Nico. Luckily, there were no giant hugs, just a firm handshake and a smiley “Nice to meet you.” Nico returned the gesture and the two adults continued to unload groceries. Will asked his mom if he could show Nico his room, and she obliged but yelled up after them not to take too long since Will’s sisters and brother would be returning from school shortly. The boys hastily went up the stairs and headed for Will’s room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next update coming soon! I hope you liked reading this, I've had a lot of fun writing it! Get ready for some fun familial bonding and our boys being awkward.


	3. Chapter 3

Will pulled Nico into a small room that was painted-wouldn’t you guess it-blue. This blue was darker than the rest of the house, but still fit the aesthetic that both he and his mother seemed to share. Percy would’ve loved Will’s house with the amount of blue adorning it, but unfortunately, they didn’t do blue foods. Will’s room was neat, looking nearly untouched. Granted, it probably didn’t get much use considering Will was a year-round camper. There were shelves lined with nick-nacks and books, along with other things from Will’s childhood like toy cars and old art projects. Will, catching Nico’s attention, guided him over to his bed. They sat down together, but Nico could tell Will was nervous about something.

“Are you okay, Will?” Nico reached out and took his hand. Will looked over at him and gave a soft smile.

“I’m fine." Will breathed, "I just feel bad. I thought I was doing the right thing when I decided not to tell my family about the majority of your past because I figured you wouldn’t want me to, but my mom is unintentionally bringing up some painful stuff for you, isn’t she?” 

“Oh-Will, that’s not your fault. Sure, it might have been a bit easier if you’d told her some of the basics, but you had my best interest at hand. I could never blame you for that.” Nico smiled. He already knew some tough memories would be bound to pop up during his visit, that’s just how it was going to be for him when it came to families. He didn’t mind though because he was doing this for Will, and Will’s family seemed sweet. They wouldn’t intentionally try to make him feel bad.

“I guess so. I’m just sorry that you have to push yourself so much.”

“Will, it’s really not that bad. Of course there were going to be awkward moments between me and your family. I’ve never had a family like this-at least not one I can remember. I came prepared.” Nico stated firmly, though speaking up about this kind of stuff made him nervous. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure how he was going to handle the rest of the night. He could be honest, or maybe he could just try to jump around the questions. Depended on how their conversations go. “Also, your family seems super nice, so I don’t really have to push myself too much. I can see why you love them the way you do.”

“I do love them. And I love you too, my lovely, perfect boyfriend. How dare you be so understanding and mature, you’re supposed to mope around and be my little emo death boy.” Will faked a pout and flung his arms around Nico who laughed at the gesture. 

“I can still do that if you want me too. Tell my stories of suffering and sit in silence, brooding. You KNOW I can do that.” The two laughed and laid back on the bed. They just stared at the ceiling for a while in comfortable silence, the kind of thing they only really felt like doing around each other. Soon, they heard loud pounding footsteps from the stairway and muffled shouts. They’d just sat up when Will’s bedroom door flew open, revealing two girls a few years younger than them. Will sprung up from the bed and opened his arms as the younger girl tackled him in a big hug. The older girl hung back slightly but was still clearly excited to see her older brother. After the first girl jumped off Will, the other resumed her place. Nico sat on the bed quietly watching the exchange before Will spoke up.

“Oh my gods, it’s so good to see you two. You’re not allowed to get so tall Laney. You too, Jessica.”

“Oh Will, one day I will surpass you in height. The day is approaching quickly. Poor Jessica, on the other hand, will be stuck at her height.” Laney giggled and ducked a quick punch from the other girl. Laney had long, light brown hair that hung straight down her back and paler skin with freckles. Jessica, the girl currently trying to behead her sister, had long dark brown hair tied in a side braid. She and Will had the same tan skin and freckles, but Jessica still stood nearly two heads below him. Once the commotion died down, Will went over to Nico and pulled him up. 

“This is Nico di Angelo, my boyfriend.” Will smiled and Nico waved awkwardly. Jessica and Laney looked him up and down. Nico tensed at the judgement and readied himself for insult. The two girls looked at each other, and nodded.

“Will, he’s too cool for you.” Laney said with a straight face. Nico burst out laughing, the others following his example. Will feigned a look of hurt and went over to his sister, pulling her into a headlock. 

“At least I’m cool enough to still be able to do this-!” Will ruffled Lacey’s hair into a frizzy mess while she screamed. After a few moments of good ole’ familial chaotic bonding, the girls turned to Nico.

“So, son of Hades, right?” Jessica smirked, Will sending her a warning stare.

“Oh-uh yeah.”

“Don’t worry, we’re not going to press you for answers or anything. Will’s explained to us enough times that godly parent stuff is…difficult.” Laney said, looking away from him.

“Oh-uh that’s alright. Demigod stuff is confusing, even for demigods themselves, so it’s natural to have questions.” Nico shrugged.

“Thanks, Nico. So…if you’d like to answer,” Jessica said as she and Laney looked at each other and grinned, “What are your powers?”

“Oh my gods, Jessica. Laney. You two are impossible.” Will griped. Nico chuckled at his reaction.

“It’s alright, Will. With my powers I can raise the dead-like make skeletons crawl out of the ground and fight for me and stuff, summon the dead, shadow travel, and some other stuff too.” Nico shifted his weight and averted his gaze to the floor. He wasn’t sure if he shared too much information. Sure, they knew he was a son of Hades, but maybe his powers were just too creepy. Even Nico was scared of his own powers sometimes. The sisters gaped at him for a few moments, before turning to Will.

“So, he really IS too cool for you.” The two laughed, and Nico attempted to wipe the surprised look off of his face. Will looked a little uncomfortable. Nico knew Will was sometimes insecure about his powers so he hurriedly stepped in. 

“Pfft Oh my gods, no. Will’s saved my life hundreds of times with his healing powers. I’d be dead already if it weren’t for him. Same with half of the camp.” Will blushed at the compliments and his sisters sounded a collective ‘awwwwww.’ 

“Well it’s true!” Nico blushed, and Will put his hand on his shoulder, smiling. The four of them sat down together on the floor so they could chat some more.

“So, how are things at camp?” Jessica asked, “How are Kayla and Austin?” 

“They’re good. They’re in charge of the the infirmary while I’m away.” Will grimaced, “They’re great healers, but I hate being away in case something happens.”

“Hey, they’ll be fine.” Nico nudged him, “It’s not super busy at camp right now anyways. Plus, I can shadow travel you back if anything happens.” 

“What? So you could melt into a puddle of darkness?” Will teased, ruffling Nico’s hair, “Not on my watch. You aren’t shadow traveling anywhere big until tomorrow when we leave. And yes, I will be nagging you afterwards as well.”

“Ughhh,” Nico rolled his eyes, “You’re so dramatic, Will. My powers aren’t that destructive.”

“Says the person who nearly turned into a shadow after using them too much” Will grinned and Nico shot him his signature death glare, murmuring a quick ‘rude’. Nico turned to Laney and Jessica who were watching their discussion with confusion and amusement.

“I shadow traveled your brother from camp today and he puked.” Nico laughed and Will punched him in the arm. 

“I would’ve payed to see that,” Laney grinned, “What IS shadow travel by the way?”

“Oh,” Nico facepalmed mentally, realizing he never explained it, “Shadow travel is something children of Hades and some Underworld creatures can do. I basically jump into shadows and travel through them. It only takes a few seconds and feels like you’re going a million miles an hour.”

“It’s awful,” Will groaned and threw his head back, “And extremely dangerous for Death Boy over here.”

“That’s unbelievable!” Jessica piped in, “I mean it sucks that it’s dangerous, but I can’t even imagine what it’s like.”

“Trust me,” Will crossed his arms and shivered, “You don’t want to know.” Nico laughed at his boyfriend and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Sunshine over here flourishes in the sun. I mean - he is a son of Apollo. I can understand why shadow travel - literally one of the most sun-devoid places you can be - doesn’t sit well with him.” 

“Wait,” Laney said, glancing between the two, “Sunshine?” 

Nico blushed and Will giggled. Jessica just grinned.

“And Death Boy.” 

Will and Nico were blushing fools when Naomi Solace called up to them to come downstairs. They were going to be making a big meal for dinner, and she wanted all hands on deck. It was around three in the afternoon and they had all been summoned into the kitchen to help prepare dinner. There, Nico was able to meet Will’s youngest sibling, Ben Solace, who surprisingly didn’t seem to be afraid of him. He wanted to show off all of his toys to him and dragged him around to look at schoolwork he was proud of. It was refreshing to see a kid just being able to be a kid for once. At camp, half of the kids that ended up there had seen quite a lot for being so young. 

Will and Nico caught each other’s glances from time to time whilst cooking and babysitting, smiling at one another reassuringly. After Nate had taken Ben to go play outside for a bit, Nico joined in with the cooking team. Naomi set up Nico to peel and chop potatoes and steam veggies while she and Will prepared homemade mac and cheese and chicken. It felt strange to be cooking with other people. He usually just cooked out of necessity. He’d never seen such a big meal being made. Not having a living mortal family meant that he didn’t celebrate holidays and didn’t have family feasts. It was strange, but nice. 

Soon, they had assembled a full course meal and set it on the table in a buffet style. Everyone sat down together and loaded their plates with food. Nico had a helping of mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and vegetables. Will went with some chicken, vegetables, and mac and cheese. The dinner was nice and peaceful, Nate and Naomi carried much of the conversation as they chatted with their kids. Nate had asked Will how his work at the infirmary was going and the blonde’s eyes immediately lit up. Will loved being a healer, even if he was insecure about his role sometimes. It showed when he talked about his time in the infirmary. He was telling his family about a nasty spill one of the Ares campers had on the climbing wall. Luckily the girl ended up being fine, but Will had to do some serious healing magic. 

“You should have seen the blood.” Will grimaced and Naomi shot him a look, gesturing to the six year old sitting at the table. Luckily he was too busy playing with his food to pay attention to what was being said. 

“Sounds like you took good care of her.” Naomi said, smiling softly at her son. “That camp of yours does sound pretty dangerous though.” 

“I guess so. The activities do help us train. Although, I’d like to see some more first aid training done. We tend to focus on combat so things like that kinda fly under the radar.” Will said, slight annoyance in his tone at the lack of support for medical training at the camp. Laney and Jessica rolled their eyes playfully at the mention of this. Nico figured Will had made all of them train first aid at some point. 

“You’re not wrong,” Nico said quietly, “Definitely could’ve come in handy.“

“Right? Like I get that combat training is important, but we need more people who can help treat patients. The Apollo cabin is swamped all the time.” Will brushed his hair back, “I’m lucky Nico helps out in the infirmary sometimes. We need more cabins open to helping out.”

“That's nice that you help out, Nico," Naomi smiled politely at him, "Are you the only Hades camper that helps out in the infirmary, or does your whole cabin pitch in?” 

Nico fiddled with his hands under the table.

“Oh-uh I’m the only Hades camper at our Camp. There’s one other at the Roman camp, but we’re all there is.” 

“Oh-I didn’t know that,” Naomi said curiously, “I’m sure it’s nice to have a whole cabin to yourself, though. I’ve heard things can be a bit cramped.” 

“Yeah, It’s nice for the most part,” Nico said, “You should have seen how it was designed at first, though.” 

“I will never forget that they made the beds in there look like coffins,” Will chuckled and Nico rolled his eyes in remembrance, “I don’t know what the designers were thinking.”

“Well I assume they thought that since Hades is the god of the dead, that the children of Hades must love all things dark and melancholy.” 

“It took a while for the décor to change.” Will sighed, “but now it’s just the right amount of gloom for you, Neeks.” Nico batted Will’s shoulder playfully. Nate and Naomi shared a knowing glance and looked back at the two boys, smirking.

“So Will, Nico,” Nate gestured to the both of them, “How did you two meet?” 

They glanced at each other before Will spoke up.

“Oh well, we’d seen each other a few times in passing before we truly met. I saw him in the battle of Manhattan riding in with Hades and leading an army of the dead while I was healing our wounded campers.” Will glanced over at Nico and smirked at the boy who was slowly trying to creep out of existence. “We actually had our first conversation during the next war when we had to defeat Gaea.” 

Nico chuckled quietly, “Of course one of the first things you said to me was telling me to stop shadow traveling.”

“Within good reason, Death boy!” 

“Shadow travel isn’t that bad, Doctor Solace.” Nico playfully rolled his eyes at Will, “That was a strange time, wasn’t it?”

“Not at all, Nico. What are you talking about.” Will said sarcastically. “But-yeah. That was how we met and we started to get to know each other better after the war ended.”

"Vague, but acceptable." Laney sighed, earning a look from her mother. 

“Oh my gods,” Nico whispered and he broke out into laughter. Will looked at him curiously.

“What in the world are you laughing about, death boy?” Nico motioned for Will to come closer so he could whisper in his ear. Once he was sure Will was the only one who could hear him, Nico whispered:

‘I’m the son of Apollo you anemic loser’

Nico and Will were laughing uncontrollably as they reminisced. The talk of war was always a little tense, but remembering the little parts like that could be fun sometimes. The rest of the table looked confused, but they smiled kindly at the interaction. Suddenly the phone rang and Naomi excused herself to go answer it. 

“I still can’t believe you two have fought literal WARS. That’s crazy.” Jessica spoke up.

“Yeah. It’s kinda strange, but I guess that’s just how it is when you’re a demigod. I just hope we don’t have to fight any more of them.” Will said, a faraway look overtaking him. Nico gently grabbed his hand and squeezed it under the table. 

“Me too,” Nico said as he connected their eyes. A few moments later, Naomi called Will out to go say hello to his grandmother over the phone. Will looked absolutely thrilled to get to talk to her, but Nico was concerned. 

“Is it okay for you to use a phone, Will? Won’t that give away our position to monsters?”

Will simply shook his head and squeezed the boy’s hand.

“It’s okay, Nico. I’ve used the phone before and nothing bad’s happened. It’ll be fine.”

Demigods and technology did not mix. Using the phone could signal monsters to their location, and with the two of them already emanating a lot of demigod energy, it didn’t seem like a good idea. Before he could speak up again, Will was already happily chatting on the phone. He sounded so glad to get to talk to his grandmother. Maybe they’d be fine.

After Will returned from the call, they finished dinner and moved onto dessert. Naomi served up a large slice of pecan pie for each of them. Ben was having fun playing with loose pecans on his plate and pretending they could fly. Deciding it was best that the child didn’t play with his food, Nate took him to go play in the neighboring room. Jessica and Laney were talking about some ridiculous teacher who they had. He apparently taught English for eighth and ninth graders and his midterm paper assignments were nearly impossible. Nico and Will could definitely understand having a somewhat...disagreeable authority figure. Jessica explained that this teacher was going to be the death of her. She was telling Nico about her hopes of becoming a writer one day and how she needed to get good grades so she could go to college for it. 

“That’s a tough path to follow, but that’s amazing that you want to do that. I’m sure you’ll write some of the best stories ever someday.” Nico told her and she blushed at the declaration. Will nudged him gratefully. 

“What about you, Nico? Any plans for the future?” Jessica asked as she nibbled on a piece of pecan pie. Nico tried to come up with an answer, but couldn’t find one.

“I have no clue. I didn’t even expect to live this long, so I haven’t really thought about it.” Nico looked and saw the uncertain expressions the others shot him. He quickly changed the subject. “I know Will wants to be a doctor, but what about you Laney?”

“I’m not sure, really.” She shrugged, “but I love history. Maybe I’ll become a history teacher or researcher.”

Nico was about to respond when Will raised his eyes suggestively.

“I’m sure Nico could help you out with some history stuff.” Will chuckled to himself. Nico knew where this was going. “He’s really kind of…an old soul. Specializes in the history of Italy during the 1930’s” 

“Will, no. No puns. I don’t do puns.” Nico giggled despite himself. “but you’re not wrong, Tesoro. Non ricordo, ma almeno parlo la lingua.” (I don't remember, but at least I know the language.) 

“Nico, I can’t understand anything other than Tesoro, please translate.” Will whined, but Nico just laughed. 

“What on earth are you two-“ Laney was cut short when the ground suddenly started shaking. The entire house shuddered and everyone held onto the nearest sturdy object. The rumbling stopped after a few moments, but Will and Nico looked at each other. Whatever that was, it wasn’t good. 

“Was that an earthquake?!” Naomi exclaimed, she had been in the kitchen and was now making her way over to check on her daughters. “That was strange.”

“Will,” Nico whispered, siding off with Will. “That felt like something bad, right?” 

Will nodded silently and the two made their way over to the windows by the front of the house. Naomi asked them what they were doing but didn’t receive an answer. Nico and Will found out what the problem was. It wasn’t good. Monsters stood outside the Solace home, weapons raised and leering at the household. Large holes engraved in the earth were scattered in the yard, showing where they’d popped out of the ground. Their evening didn't look so peaceful anymore. Nico subconsciously grabbed for his sword, but remembered that he and Will's weapons were upstairs, hidden.

“Will, I need my sword please.”

“Got it.” Will quickly clamored up the stairs as Naomi and the rest of the family appeared in the hallway behind them. 

“What’s going on?” She asked, but Nico had a feeling she already knew. Ben was being held by his dad and the sisters huddled around them. Everyone looked scared. Will came down just then with Nico’s sword and his bow and arrows. Nico carefully took the blade. With it in his hands, he felt much more confident than he actually was.

“Naomi, I’m sorry to tell you this, but there are-“ Nico glanced at the six year old and whispered, “monsters in your yard. Will and I are gonna go take care of them.” Nico held Will's bow as he was slinging his quiver over his back. 

“How can we help?” Nate said, looking uncertain but ready for a fight.

“I’m sorry, but I need you to keep everyone inside here safe,” Will apologized as he prepped his arrows, “Mortals can’t fight these things.”

“How did they find you two?” Jessica piped up from behind Nate.

“I’ll explain more later, but demigods can’t use technology because they’ll signal monsters to our location. And since there’s two of us here, it just amplified it.” Nico explained calmly. He looked over to Will who tensed at the realization that his phone call was probably the reason for the monsters finding them. He and Will sided off to their left and planned quietly. 

“Okay, I see some dracnae, a bronze bull, and a near legion of skeletons. I'm not sure, but it looks like these monsters were left dormant here from the time of Kronos' army. The bronze bull is going to be our toughest opponent, but the others should be easy enough for both of us to handle.” Nico said and Will nodded, “Stay closer to the house and pick off any that come near. I’ll take care of the ones that you either can’t kill-AKA the skeletons-and the big guy.”

“Nico, I hope you’re not insinuating that I let you take on the bronze bull by yourself. Those things are killing machines.”

“We don’t really have a choice. For the time being, I’ll distract it while you pick off any open enemies.”

“But Nico-“ Will was cut off by a large rock shattering through the window and loud roar. Ben cried out in fear and Will’s family huddled together. 

“Come on! There’s no time!” Nico set off and pushed himself out the door, Will following close behind. The monsters, who were slowly advancing on the house, turned their attention to the demigods and quickly began attacking. Nico ran up against two dracnae who were hissing and striking out at him. He managed to slide out behind them and take them down with a swift slice to the back. The monsters disintegrated into dust. 

He watched as Will shot the largest of the dracnae into dust, readying his bow once more to pick off those advancing. Nico busied himself by sending up four or five skeletons into flames. He considered using his powers to subdue them, but with the sheer amount of enemies there he wasn’t sure if he could fight after doing so. He turned to fight off some more skeletons when he heard Will shout, “Nico! Look out!” 

Nico turned just in time to avoid the bronze bull charging at him with unrivaled speed. The beast stopped just short of crashing into the side of the house and turned back towards Nico, preparing for its next attack. Nico was busy fighting off skeletons, but he managed to get a quick glimpse of Will. Will was a decent archer, but at the moment he was close to being overtaken by dracnae and skeletons.

Nico thought hard for a moment until an idea popped into his head. Will would hate it, but it was the only chance they stood. He quickly finished off the skeleton he was fighting. It erupted in black flames as stygian iron sliced through him. He shadow traveled next to Will who looked surprised at his appearance. Before Will could ask him what he was doing, Nico ran into the line of monsters Will had been keeping at bay and attacked. He left Will to take care of some of the dracnae as he battled on against the rest of the skeletons. Will continued his volley of arrows, but he looked confused at Nico’s change of plan. He wanted to explain what he was doing, but there wasn’t any time. 

Nico heard a clink of metal and turned around. Apparently Will had seen the bull looking to charge Nico and decided to shoot an arrow at him. While the gesture was sweet and could have worked if the bull wasn't nearly impenetrable, it just made the beast angry. Now, instead of aiming for Nico, the monster focused on Will. Nico had to draw its attention somehow, lead him away from his boyfriend. Nico didn't have much time to think, so he simply sent up some skeletons from the ground to distract it. 

Before the bull could crush his soldiers, Nico decided to tease him and shadow travel next him. He stuck the tip of his sword into the bronze and hastily shadow traveled back to his original position. When he made it back, he could feel the toll of his powers weighing on him. He couldn't afford to stop now . HIs plan was working again.

He heard the familiar roar of the bronze bull as he charged straight for Nico. The bull, completely unaware of anyone else other than his target, bashed through most of the monsters, turning them to dust. Even the skeletons couldn't reform after being stomped on by the beast. Nico’s plan simply involved him being bait while the bull trampled over his own army, skeletons and dracnae dissipating under his fury. Will landed one last arrow into the only remaining dracnae. Now, it was just them and the rampaging bull currently speeding toward the son of Hades. 

Right before the bronze bull plowed into him, Nico slipped into a shadow. He had planned to pop out behind the bull and drive his sword into his side, but the bull skidded to a stop sooner than before. When Nico stepped out of his exit point the bull was much closer than he’d anticipated. The bull breathed a massive blast of fire that caught a part of Nico’s arm. 

He hissed in pain but continued his pursuit. Nico bounded towards the beast’s chest and plunged his sword straight through it. It stumbled and started to malfunction. He grinned and began attempting to dislodge his sword from the bull’s chest. What he didn’t expect, though, was the beast to explode. Before he could figure out what was going on, he was erupted off of the machine at dizzying speeds and sent hurling towards the ground. Hot shrapnel and fire erupted from the beast and spurred around them. Right before Nico slammed into the ground, something hard smacked into his head. The last thing he heard before blacking out was Will frantically calling his name.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: mentions of blood and injury. Not graphic, but referred to.

Will kneeled next to his unconscious boyfriend. The son of Hades had blood pooling around his head and his left arm was burned. He cursed in ancient Greek and began checking his vitals. Nico was losing quite a bit of blood from his head wound and the overuse of his powers was taking its toll. His pulse was steady, but weak. The darkness in Nico’s body sharply increased from when he last checked it, but he didn’t seem to be in danger of fading. Carefully, Will scooped up the smaller boy in his arms. Just as he was heading back to the house, Nate and Naomi rushed out of the doorway. Naomi paled at the sight of Nico.

“Will! What happened?! Are you alright?!” Naomi and Nate helped Will inside.

“I’m fine, but obviously Nico isn’t. I’m going to take him upstairs to my room and treat him.” Will said urgently, already bounding up the stairs. The rest of his family began to follow him, but he snapped at them to stay downstairs. Before he could see the hurt looks on their faces, he turned and continued his ascent up the stairs. He entered his room and gently laid Nico on his bed. He quickly grabbed his medical bag and fished out some bandages. After he mopped off the blood from Nico’s wound, he examined the gash. The piece of metal that hit him had sliced open his head. Cursing, he began stitching up the wound. He wanted to make sure the cut was sealed before using any healing magic. After he finished the stitches, he grabbed a roll of bandages and wound them tightly around his head. Next, he took a look at the burn he’d gotten while fighting the bronze bull. The wound went from his shoulder to his bicep. Will reached back into his bag and pulled out a container of burn cream. He carefully applied the cream on the damaged skin and wrapped it in bandages. 

Will couldn’t see any other exterior injuries, so he grabbed onto Nico’s hand again and used his powers to check for internal damage. Thankfully, Will couldn’t sense any internal bleeding or other injuries. Well-other than the nasty concussion Nico had gotten. He decided that the concussion should be the injury he should heal first. A severe concussion could spell serious trouble. ‘That and Nico probably wouldn’t allow himself to rest and let it heal properly’, Will thought and laughed solemnly. Moving up to get a better angle, he gently placed his hands over Nico’s head and began singing in Ancient Greek. The glow of his hands started off faintly, but quickly progressed into a steady golden light. Using his healing powers always took a lot out of him, and he was already exhausted from the night’s battle, so he stopped once Nico’s concussion had reached a much safer level. He wanted to save some of his energy to heal at least a little of Nico’s burn. 

Before he turned his attention to the injury, a soft knock sounded from his door.

“Will?” Jessica called hesitantly, “Can I come in…please?” 

Will sat back and sighed. 

“…fine, but just for a second.” Will answered after a few long moments. Jessica slowly pushed the door open and entered the room. She walked over and sat down beside her brother. 

“How is he doing?” She asked, looking concernedly at the unconscious figure on the bed.

“He’ll be fine.” Will released a breath he didn’t remember holding, “I’ve already healed the majority of his worst injury, so he’s just going to be in a bit of pain for a small while.”

“That’s good to hear. You did a great job, Will.” She smiled kindly, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. 

“I still have to heal some of the burn he has on his arm.” Will said, readjusting his sleeves.

“Can I watch?” Jessica asked hesitantly, “please?”

Will sighed, “Sure, I guess so. But I need to be able to focus, so try to be quiet.” Jessica mimed a zipping of her lips and Will cracked a small smile at her. Refocusing, he cautiously placed his hands over the burn. He sang in Ancient Greek once more and the familiar glow encapsulated his hands. After he could feel the burn healing to an acceptable amount, he stopped his song and slumped forward.

“Will? Are you alright?” Jessica spoke urgently, holding her brother’s shoulders. Will grunted and sat up again shakily.

“I’m alright. Healing takes a lot out of me. I’m just tired.” Will said softly, averting his eyes. His emotions were all flooding back to him now that the panic had subsided. He was tired, but he was also feeling sad and guilty. He felt a familiar sense of failure wash over him.

“Will, are you sure? You-“

“I screwed up.” Will cried, cutting off his sister. “Nico warned me not to take the phone call. He warned me that monsters would be able to find us if I talked on the phone. But I didn’t listen. And now my boyfriend is hurt and it’s my fault.”

“Will,” Jessica breathed, “this isn’t your fault. It just happened. We don’t know if it even was the phone call that made the monsters show up. It could’ve been the fact that there were two demigods here in the middle of a mortal town. Of course you’d stick out. And from what you’ve told me, Nico has some powerful demigod energy radiating off of him because he’s a child of the…big three.” She said the last part with some uncertainty, unsure if she was using the terms correctly. Will just sighed.

“I really want to say that you’re right, but I think the phone call did it. If it wasn’t, we would have had monsters here much sooner than they came. It happened almost immediately after I finished the phone call.” 

“Oh-Will…”

“Just because of a freaking phone call.” Will stood up suddenly, and laughed with nothing but pure anger, “A phone call. You know, things normal kids can do whenever they want? But me, no. I have to pray to a goddess to make a magic call. Because, if I make or even answer a call, monsters and other otherworldly beings will try to kill me.” Will shouted in anger, but that fury quickly dissipated into sadness. He sobbed.

Jessica quietly stood up and hugged him. Will’s tears soaked her shirt and he sniffled into her hair, but she didn’t care.   
“Will, this wasn’t your fault. And it’s not your fault Nico got hurt. It just happened. You…you don’t have to feel guilty about being a demigod.” She half whispered the last part, earning a flinch from Will. “I know how you think, Will. You’re allowed to want to do normal things like make a phone call. We just have to be more careful. We can find ways around it.

Will just held onto her tighter and murmured, “I know you’re right. But it sucks. I feel like I’m not strong enough to protect everyone.” 

“That’s crazy,” Jessica smiled, pulling back slightly so she could look at her brother, “We watched you fight. You’re good. I don’t even know how you can stand there and face monsters like you do. Any other person would be running for the hills.”

“And,” She continued, “you do a great job a protecting people. Look at Nico, do you really think he considers you to be weak? Unlike many other demigods, you can heal AND fight. What would’ve happened if you weren’t here, Will? Think on that for a moment and realize just how much you do for everyone around you.”

Will didn’t respond, but he hugged her even tighter. They stood for a long while, hugging and crying, until Will nearly passed out in her arms. She carefully helped lower him to the floor.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m drained. Sorry.” Will said sounding absolutely exhausted. He was nearly falling asleep where he sat. 

“Want me to help you climb into bed with your cool boyfriend,” Jessica offered a playful smirk. Will rolled his eyes but gave a small smile back.

“Okay. But we have to be careful, I don’t want to wake him up or move him too much.” Will said as Jessica looped his arm around her shoulders. Will wasn’t that heavy, but he was tall, so getting him up proved more of a challenge than she’d anticipated. Eventually, she’d managed to get Will into bed without killing the son of Hades. Before falling asleep, Will asked Jessica if she could handle talking to their family.

“Sure, Will.” 

“Thank you, Jess.” Will smiled sleepily. Jessica was going to leave but remembered something she needed to ask him on behalf of her parents.  
“By the way, Will, do you know how we can get in contact with Nico’s family? Mom and dad wanted to call them and tell them what happened.” 

Will tensed and answered reluctantly.

“Oh-um. I kinda forgot to mention that Nico doesn’t really…have a family. His mom died when he was younger and his older sister passed away his first year of camp. So…”

There was along pause before either of them spoke.

“Will, why didn’t you tell us that BEFORE he came?” Jessica asked, holding the bridge of her nose, something she clearly inherited from Will. She remembered a few times during dinner when Nico had deflected questions about him or his family. Now she knew why. 

“I know. I should’ve at least laid down the basics. I just didn’t want to tell you anything Nico would be uncomfortable with everyone knowing. If you haven’t noticed, he’s a pretty private person.” He gestured to the sleeping boy beside him. Jessica nodded.

“I get it. Next time, though, at least let us know beforehand so we don’t make him uncomfortable. Is it okay if I relay the information to Mom? She’ll need to know why we can’t contact his guardians.”

“Yeah…that should be fine.” He said as he stroked Nico’s hair, “Thanks again, Jess.”

“Sure thing, Will.” Jessica slowly moved towards the door. As she was leaving, she whispered a quick, “You know, you’re pretty cool yourself, Mr. Glowy hands.” 

. . . . 

Nico felt like he’d been hit by a bus. His head was pounding, and he could barely move a muscle. Slowly, he opened his eyes. He was back in Will’s room, the familiar blue walls looking black with the veil of night covering them. Speaking of Will, where was he? The last thing he remembered, he’d been exploded off of the bronze bull and blacked out. He was pretty sure he and Will managed to dispose of all the monsters, but what if more showed up? Was Will okay? Frantically, Nico looked around the room. He jumped when he found Will much closer than he’d expected. 

He hesitantly reached out and tucked a loose curl behind the blonde’s ear. Nico didn’t see any serious physical injuries on him, just a few scratches here and there. He breathed a sigh of relief and sank back into his pillow. He wasn’t really sure what to feel at the moment. He was relieved his plan had worked and that Will seemed okay, but he felt guilty that he’d made him worry. He just stared at the son of Apollo for an embarrassingly long time before closing his eyes again. He wanted to stay awake, but his body betrayed him, and he fell back asleep.

Suddenly he was back at camp. The sun was shining, and he and his friends were eating at the dining hall. Will was sat next to him, laughing at something Percy had said. He watched Percy and Jason tease each other for a while. Percy and Jason had a pretty Bro-esc relationship and they seemed to share a single brain cell when they were together. Honestly, Nico loved the two like family. Of course, that wasn’t always the case, but being children of the big three on top of everything they had gone through together really made it hard not to see them as anything else. Soon they had each other in playful headlocks and the whole table was in tears laughing.

But slowly the scene changed, and the hysterical laughing turned into sobs. He and several others were stood atop a pit. He looked around and saw his friends-Greek and Roman-standing above it. Everyone was in tears, but he wasn’t yet sure why. It took him a bit to realize, but his feet were sinking into the dirt, as if Gaea was trying to pull him into the earth. He tried to call out to the others, but his voice was gone. He was sinking faster now, plummeting into darkness. He landed on something hard and looked around him. It was Tartarus. 

Nico woke with a violent start. His body lurched forward and he gasped for air. The images in the dream faded and he could finally think again. He looked around him. He was no longer on the bed, but curled in a heap on the floor next to it. Reigning in his breathing, he carefully sat up. His limbs protested against him and he felt a stinging pain on his left arm. He looked down and saw a string of bandages wrapped from his shoulder to his bicep. He sighed and looked up to make sure Will was still asleep. Luckily, the usually light sleeper was so tired he didn’t even stir. Before he could pull himself up, the door to Will’s room creaked open, revealing Laney and Jessica. Apparently he wasn’t quiet enough to keep everyone asleep. When the two girls spotted him on the floor, they quietly ran over to help him up. Jessica grabbed the chair from Will’s desk while Laney helped Nico stand. Luckily, since Nico was shorter than Will, it didn’t take as much effort to get him into the seat.

“Nico?” Laney whispered hurriedly, “are you okay?”

“Yeah, sorry for waking you. I fell.” He whispered, blushing as embarrassment washed over him. 

“Don’t worry, we were awake anyways.” Laney assured. She looked up at his forehead and winced. “Hold on, Nico, you’re bleeding. Let me change your bandages real quick.” Jessica walked over to Will’s medical bag and immediately located a roll of white bandages. She tossed them over to Laney who was already in the process of unwrapping his old ones. While Laney applied new bandages, Jessica quietly padded out of the room. Laney finished wrapping his head and Jessica came back in with a glass of water.

“Thank you.” He said to the two of them, “You two are definitely Will’s sisters.” They chuckled softly and rolled their eyes dramatically.

“Oh my God, Will makes us keep up with first aid training all the time.” Jessica groaned, “I mean it obviously comes in handy, but he doesn’t need to be so insistent.”

“Don’t worry. I get what you mean.” Nico laughed quietly, reminiscing all the times Will had nagged him in similar ways. It was something he loved about him. 

Now that the three of them were together in silence, he wasn’t sure what to say to them. 

“So- crazy day, huh?” Jessica piped up, trying to ease the awkward tension, “Do you remember what happened?”

“Um… yeah for the most part,” Nico played with his hands, “I remember everything until-you know-I blacked out from getting hit in the head.”

“Okay, well that’s good.” Jessica said, smiling. The amount of smiling this family did was astonishing, but it made sense, “You had everyone scared with how much blood you lost.”

“Yeah, sorry…” Nico crossed his arms, suddenly self-conscious. He wasn’t too keen on the fact that he’d been injured in front of Will’s family. Laney seemed to catch onto his discomfort and started up a conversation. 

“You’re a really good fighter, Nico. We all watched from the windows. That was crazy.” 

“Oh-uh thanks,” Nico said awkwardly, “I’ve got lots of practice.”

“I can tell,” Jessica said. “Did you learn all that from camp?”

“Oh-uh not exactly.” Nico wasn’t sure how to explain that he’d been taught by a ghost, but figured maybe it wasn’t a good point to bring up at the moment anyways. “Battle experience is always a good teacher.”

“I can imagine.” 

“I’m sorry about that, by the way. It’s my fault that monsters came.” Nico hung his head. Jessica and Laney shared a look.

“Nico, that wasn’t your fault. It was the phone call.” Jessica told him.

“Maybe, but Will’s used a phone here before. He didn’t think monsters would show up because he hadn’t had any issues with it beforehand. My being here made it more dangerous for Will to use the phone.” Nico tensed and averted his eyes, feeling shameful. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to put your family in danger.”

“Nico,” Jessica crouched in front of him, “None of this was your fault. Not Will’s either. I just had the same conversation with him before he went to bed. It’s not your fault you guys are demigods.”

“Wait,” Nico back peddled, “Will thought this was his fault?” Jessica nodded. “That’s insane.”

“Stupid right? Now,” Jessica placed a hand on his good shoulder, “Are you planning to stupidly think that this was your fault?” 

“I-Uh-“

“Exactly.” Jessica stated firmly, “You’re not.”

“Is Will alright? He wasn’t hurt, was he?” Nico asked, trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice. Jessica shook her head.

“No, he’s fine. Just tired. But you, on the other hand, were and still are. So, let’s get you back to bed. Will is going to kill all of us if he finds you up.” Nico smiled and the tension visibly left his body. Jessica and Laney carefully helped him get back into bed. He thanked them, and the two left the room. 

Nico was still extremely tired, but he stayed awake for a while. He thought about how kind Will and his siblings were. The way they treated him like he was normal. Like it was okay to be himself. 

It scared him. 

He wasn’t used to this kind of treatment. He liked it, but he was afraid it wasn’t real. Is this what families are like? Well - good families? He wondered for a while if his family had been like that. He tried to remember but came up empty-handed. He hoped his mother treated him with such kindness. It made him sad to think about his mom. He couldn’t remember her nearly at all and the fact that he didn’t know how she was like was devastating. 

He wondered if she smiled a lot or if she would give him giant hugs like Naomi. He’d be sad to know if she didn’t care for him, but part of him wondered if it would it be worse if she did. He couldn’t even thank her if she was kind to him. Couldn’t revel in happy memories because he couldn’t remember - at least not anything he could piece together. He tried not to, but he ended up falling asleep crying. Unconsciously grabbing onto Will’s hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a shorter chapter, but the next one will be longer. Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: slight mentions of blood.

When Will woke up the next morning, the first thing he did was check on Nico. His injuries seemed to be healing fine and he didn’t look too uncomfortable as he slept. The bandages on his head looked a little different from when he’d left them, but he figured they just shifted in his sleep. 

He came out of his room a grabbed a glass of water for the two of them. Sitting them down on his desk, he rifled through his medical bag to retrieve his notepad. There he kept logs of all the medical needs of his patients. The papers often ended up discarded once his patients were healthy again, but making a list always helped him stay organized and focused. Staying like that was tough sometimes since he had ADHD and dyslexia – similar to his other demigod friends. 

He began writing down Nico’s treatment plan when he heard a knock on his door. Instead of calling out to whoever was there, he quietly got up and went to the door so he didn’t wake up his boyfriend. 

When he opened the door, his mom was standing outside.

“Hi mom.” Will said sheepishly, fully aware that he had been kind of rude to her last night in his panic. His mom didn’t usually get mad at him, but somehow he always expected that reaction. Naomi simply pulled her son into a hug and held him there. As much as he hated to admit it, Will was tired, scared, and just in need of a good motherly hug. He sunk into the embrace and took in the comforting feel of her. This was something he always missed whenever he was at camp. The ability to go and hug your mom was a rare occurrence, so he tried not to take it for granted. 

“Are you okay, honey?” Naomi asked, keeping her voice gentle. Will just nodded into her shoulder. He didn’t have the energy to answer verbally. “Okay, good. Now, you’re coming downstairs to grab some breakfast okay?”

“Mom, I can’t just leave Nico up here by himself.” Will said finally pulling away from the hug. Will’s protective boyfriend and doctorly instincts disliked the idea of leaving the boy by himself. His mom just shook her head.

“He’ll be okay.” Naomi reached up and ruffled his hair as he tried and failed to bat her hand away, “From what your sisters told me, you healed up his major injuries. You’re a good healer. He’s stable. A small little breakfast won’t hurt, will it?” 

Will thought for a moment. He’d made sure to heal up any serious injuries, so he wasn’t worried about his health deteriorating. The son of Apollo silently went over a checklist in his head; the only injuries remaining were a slight concussion, the burn on his arm, and just heavy fatigue and an increase of darkness. Nothing life threatening, thankfully. Still, Will felt apprehensive to leave. 

Despite his conversation with Jessica last night, Will still couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt that this fiasco was his fault. Speaking of Jessica, he wondered what she’d told their mom. Did she tell her about their conversation? Will hoped not. He was already pushing himself to be vulnerable in front of his younger sister. He didn’t often open up to other people, even those he was very close with. He always wanted to be strong for the people around him, even though the act ended up usually causing him more harm than good. He’d always tell others to be more accepting of help, but he himself was strictly opposed to the idea. As much as he hated to admit it, Will was a big hypocrite. 

“I guess not,” Will said uncertainly “Are the others up yet?”

“Just your sisters and me. Nate is at work and Ben is still asleep.” Naomi took Will by the shoulder and began guiding him down the stairs, “Come on, your food is gonna get cold.”

Will let his mom guide him down the stairs and into the kitchen. His feet felt like lead and he was exhausted. When they arrived, Laney and Jessica were already eating a helping of eggs, bacon, and toast. They looked tired as well, not that he could blame them for that of course. He was certain that last night wasn’t peaceful for anyone.

He took up his usual chair and his mom handed him a plate. He wasn’t super hungry at the moment, so he just grabbed a piece of toast and some eggs. Naomi sat at the head of the table with her own plate but didn’t eat. She just stared off into space. Will and his sisters made eye contact, confirming their shared confusion. Naomi Solace was not a quiet person. Will spoke up first.

“Mom, are you okay?”

“Will…I was so worried.” She said after a few moments, all eyes now trained on her, “I-watching you fight…watching you do that. It hurt so much that I couldn’t do anything to help you.”

“Mom…” Will was surprised at his mother’s somber tone. She was always such a smiley person; it was hard to see her with a sad expression. He hurriedly tried to reassure her, “it’s okay. I’ve fought hundreds of times before. And everything turned out alright, right?” Will reached out a placed a hand over his mother’s. He felt familiar fear rising in him. He didn’t like scaring his family. He wanted to tell them that he was scared too, that he too felt that he couldn’t do much. He wanted to cry with them and be comforted and just let the weight of his emotions go. Be he didn’t.

His mom wasn’t often this serious, but it happened once in a while. Usually during the times when she was reminded just how dangerous being a demigod was. 

“But what if it hadn’t? What if you had gotten hurt? How could I ever live with myself if something happened to you? To any of you?” A few tears trailed down her cheek. Jessica, forever the most emotionally mature fourteen-year-old Will had ever seen, stood up and placed herself beside their mom. 

“Mom, Will’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.” She soothed, resting a hand on her mother’s shoulder, “He’s been trained for this. This is just a part of his life.” That part struck a chord in him. Sometimes it was hard to except that THIS was a part of his life. That he had to be trained to fight in order to live a peaceful existence. The irony was brutal and stabbed at him.

“I know. I just hate not being able to do anything. I want to be able to protect all of you, but…” She trailed off. Will completely understood the feeling of wanting to protect the people closest to you. He understood that better than most. He remembered when he had become head of the Apollo cabin, right after the death of their former senior counselor. He felt like a failure for not being able to help protect his fallen sibling, and then he was supposed to protect his entire cabin. Will, being mainly a healer, often felt severely underprepared and untrained to protect those around him. 

“I’m sorry,” Will said softly, “I know I worry you a lot.” Naomi turned her attention back to him and shook her head.

“Will, you have nothing to be sorry for. I know this is a part of your life. It’s just scary. It’s scary to see your child having to fight battles that you can’t protect them from. You’re so strong, Will. So strong, but you’re still my baby.” She smiled and squeezed his hand, but he pulled away.

“I’m not strong,” Will murmured.

“Will, what in the world are you talking about?” Laney asked, eyeing him.

“I’m not strong.” He repeated, clenching his fists, his emotions were raging inside of him. It hurt. “You saw me fighting out there. I couldn’t even touch half of the enemies. I’m a healer, not a fighter. I can use a bow, but there’s a difference between being able to use a bow and being able to fight.” The table openly gaped at him, clear disbelief in their eyes. Will was trembling. His fears were now laid out bare on the table. He was afraid. Shaking off the shock, Naomi straightened herself and looked directly into her son’s eyes, her voice sincere as she spoke. 

“Will…we all watched you fight. You’re a good archer and an excellent fighter. And unlike other demigods, you have the ability to heal,” Naomi said, taking Will’s hands in her own, “Strength isn’t necessarily about how many monsters you can kill or how good you are with a bow, that’s a different kind of strength. But there’s also a strength many of those extremely powerful demigods don’t have, the strength to be able to care for others and love them. To be able to help others and fight even if you think you can’t.”

Will sighed and gently took his hands out of his mom’s grasp. He sat his head on the table.

“Inside, I know you’re right. But it’s hard to feel that way when the bad guys outnumber you twenty to two. It still sucks that I can’t protect my friends the way I want to.” Will held his arms around himself. 

“Do you-“ Will paused, grimacing, and slouched deeper against the table, “Do you ever wish I wasn’t a demigod?”

“No.” Naomi said firmly, forcing Will to lift his head and look at her, “This is a part of who you are. I would never want to take this part of you because it’s helped shape you into the best son a mother could ask for.” Naomi placed her hand on her son’s cheek. Will unconsciously leaned into her touch.

“Sometimes, I wish I wasn’t a demigod. Sure, some of the stuff I do and get to partake in is really cool, but I can’t be normal. Whatever I do is always tied in with some godly fate and its…kind of scary.” Will’s voice shook, “I don’t know if I’m going to have to fight another war. I’m only fifteen and I’ve fought in two wars. I don’t know how many more wars I can take…I-” Will nearly choked on his words, so he sighed and put his head in his hands. The table was silent for a while. His mom began gently stroking his hair, something she knew helped comfort him when he was upset.

“Have you talked to Nico or your other demigod friends about this?” Laney asked quietly. Will nodded.

“I mean we all kinda feel that way. We never signed up to be demigods. We didn’t sign up to be pawns in the gods’ wars.” 

“But there are good things too, right?” Jessica said, “I mean you’ve made a lot of friends. Good friends who are all basically family because of everything you guys have been through.” 

“I know. And for that, I’m very thankful for. It’s just - sometimes being normal sounds really fun. Is that wrong of me to think?”

“Of course not, Will.” Naomi spoke up, tears in her eyes, “It’s fine to want normal things. Your part god, yes, but you’re also part mortal. You are allowed to want normal mortal things.” 

Will stood up and hugged his mom, sobbing into her shirt. She just held onto him tightly and continued to stroke his hair. He was crying, but his family pretended he wasn’t. They were awesome like that. It was a long while before Will stopped crying. Years of fears and bottled up emotions were collapsing in on him. Memories raced through his head, reopening old wounds and allowing them to wash away with his tears. He wasn’t okay. This one instance of him opening up didn’t fix everything or make him forget his pain, but it did make him feel better. He promised himself he would try to open up more often. It would help him and the people around him.

After he sat back down, he smiled. Maybe it was okay to want to be normal sometimes. Maybe it was okay to be scared or feel fragile. But, it was also okay to want to be his demigod self. As much as the stuff that he went through was...rough to say the very least, he couldn’t imagine himself not being a medic. Not being by his friend’s sides as they fought. Not being able to meet the closest friends he’ll ever have. Not having more siblings than he could count. He couldn’t imagine himself living just as a normal person. He definitely didn’t have all of the answers, but being a demigod was exactly like his mom said – a part of who he was. 

Laney, who’d been very quiet during their conversations, stood up and gave Will a giant hug from behind. His youngest sister was a bit of a goofball and didn’t really talk about serious stuff or emotions often, so she often opted for action as a way to express herself. Will loved that about her. He hugged her back and ruffled her hair, she returned to her seat slightly teary eyed, but with a small smile ghosting over her features. 

Will felt a weight being lifted off of his chest, and he sat back and started eating a piece of his toast. The table sat in comfortable silence as they finished their breakfasts. 

“Do you guys really have to leave today?” Laney said as she pushed around the food on her plate. Will smirked at her.

“What? Are you going to miss me?” Will teased and dodged a piece of egg sailing in his direction. 

“In your dreams, William.” She rolled her eyes. “But seriously, do you have to go?”

“Well, that depends on if we can. Nico would have to shadow travel us back to camp. I’m not going to let him do it if his body’s not healed enough make the trip. On top of the external injuries he got from the fight last night, he overused his powers.” Will explained in expert fashion.

“Is it like when you get tired from using your healing powers?” Naomi asked, clearly remembering several times Will had overworked himself.

“Similar, but not exactly the same.” Will stated, “Nico’s powers are actually really harmful for his body. He has so much power that his body can’t keep up. It’s pretty common in children of the big three. Well - common as far as we know of. There’s not that many big three kids.” 

“Well – you two are OBVIOUSLY more than welcome to stay another day. Stay forever if you will.” Naomi chuckled and got up to clean her plate. Will got up too and disposed of any uneaten food into the trash. He grabbed a clean plate and two pieces of toast.

“I’m going to go bring some food upstairs for Nico. He should be waking up soon. I was surprised he slept through the night, to be honest.” 

Laney and Jessica shared a look.

“Oh – uh – about that…,” Laney hesitated, “We may have forgotten to tell you he woke up last night. He fell and Jessica and I came in to make sure everything was alright.” The two girls gave him guilty smiles and inched back in their seats. Will’s eyes were wide and he stared them down.

“He FELL and you guys didn’t wake me up!?” Will exclaimed, trying to keep his anger to a minimum. 

“Hey! You were exhausted and Nico was fine.” Laney fired back, “His head was bleeding a bit so I redid his bandages. Other than that, he was fine.”

“I knew those bandages looked different from when I’d finished them last night!” Will sighed, but felt the frustration seep out of him as his worry faded. Jessica just giggled at him. Will shot her a glare.

“What?” he asked her sister, who was staring amusedly at him.

“Oh, nothing,” Jessica shrugged, her tone playful, “You just seem to be very protective of Nico.”

Will felt his face heat up, and he answered in a squeaky voice, “Uh – duh! Of course I’m protective. He’s my boyfriend. And an idiot who won’t take care of himself.”

All three of them laughed at him being a flustered mess. Will just folded his arms over his chest and waited for their amusement to wear off. When it did, Will just sighed and began up heading towards the hallway with the plate of food. Before he made it to the stairs, Jessica had run out and met him in the hall. 

“Everything okay, Jess?” Will asked skeptically, wondering why she need to speak with his privately. She just nodded.

“Remember the conversation I had with you last night? About you thinking what happened was your fault?” Will answered with a quick yes, hoping she wasn’t going to interrogate him further. As much as he appreciated Jess and her uncanny empathetic abilities, he’d already had enough emotional breakdowns to last him a long while, “I just wanted to tell you that I had the same chat with Nico last night. Just like you, he thought last night was his fault.”

“Are you kidding me? That’s insane. How could he think that any of that was his fault?” Nico often jumped to the conclusion that most things were his fault, even if what happened couldn’t even be connected back to him. 

“And that’s exactly what he said to me when I told him you thought it was YOUR fault.” Will’s ears went red at the mention. Jessica’s talk had helped a lot last night, but he still couldn’t help feeling guilty. 

“It was more mine than his.”

“Okay, see,” Jessica pointed a finger at him, “THIS is why I wanted to pull you aside before you went back up. Because it’s obvious you two are going to talk about what happened and you’re both going to blame yourselves.”

“Jess, it’s really not-“ They were cut off by the sound of something falling from upstairs. They looked at one another confusedly, wondering what and where the sound had come from. It was only then that they simultaneously realized it had come from Will’s room. They quickly bounded up the steps. Will slammed his door open. Nico was awake and standing by Will’s desk. 

“Oh-hey…” Nico said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, “Sorry, I dropped the sheath to my sword when I was looking for it.” 

Before he could answer, Will had lunged over to his boyfriend and tackled him in a hug, nearly toppling the both of them. Will held onto Nico like his life depended on it.

“Hey, it’s okay, Will. We’re okay.” Nico soothed, bringing his hand up to stroke blonde curly hair. They stood there for a long while, simply taking in one another’s presence, until Will pulled back and scooped up the son of Hades in his arms. Nico squeaked in surprise as Will carefully placed him back on the bed. The boy was blushing furiously.

“You know, I could have walked.” Nico half pouted, obviously embarrassed but charmed. Will laughed and kissed him. 

“You know you love when I carry you.” Will smirked and pushed his hair back. Nico huffed.

“Hey, I’m usually unconscious when you carry me.” 

“Which is more often then you’d like to think.” The two were finally back to their playful bickering as they stared at one another. Jessica cleared her throat, announcing her presence to the couple. Somehow, they had forgotten Will’s younger sister was present during their entire exchange. The blushes on their faces were like none ever seen before. Jessica just chuckled to herself and said, “I’ll let you two catch up. Let me know if you need anything.” She turned and left the room, shutting the door behind her. Will sighed in relief and sat down next to the brunette. 

“So, how are you feeling?” Will asked, and Nico shrugged. 

“I’m alright. Just tired. Are you okay?” 

“Also just tired,” When it was just the two of them together, they were much more open to being vulnerable. They tried not to hide things from one another, but of course that didn’t always go as planned. “Can I check you?” 

Will held out his hand and waited for Nico to take it. When he did, Will focused in on his examination. Because of the overuse of his powers, the darkness inside Nico’s body was – as he’d observed earlier – heightened by a good margin. His levels hadn’t been this high in a while, which was probably why they were having more of an effect on him now. Thankfully, the rise in darkness wouldn’t last too much longer. Just from last night, his levels seemed to dropping. Of course, he still had the concussion, the gash on his forehead, and the burn on his arm to worry about. Unfortunately, Will just currently didn’t have the energy to heal everything at the moment. He’d used up a lot of his energy last night between the battle and then healing the worst of his injuries. Nico seemed to read his mind because he piped up after Will released his hand.

“Will, I love you, but you look exhausted. I’m not letting you use your powers any more on me. At least not right now. Doctor’s orders.”

Will froze in place.

“Nico, did you just reverse “Doctor’s orders” on me?” Nico just smirked at him.

“Yes.” Nico looked very pleased with himself, “Don’t fight me on it, Solace.”

“Don’t fight ME on it. I’m the Doctor!” Nico pulled Will into a hug and they just sat and laughed away any tension between them. They laid down together on the bed and just stared at each other for a while. During moments like this, Will never wished he wasn’t a demigod. He wouldn’t change anything about himself or his situation. Nico made him feel like that, safe and loved and understood. He hoped the latter felt the same. 

He remembered all their nights in the Hades cabin, watching movies, reading books, playing games, or just enjoying one another’s company. They’d have long and deep talks that would dissolve into something humorous at the end. Despite having to worry about all of their demigod problems, the two were often able to have those peaceful moments where they could openly be themselves. Will played with Nico’s hands, twirling the skull ring on his finger. If anyone but Will even went near the piece of jewelry, the son of Hades would probably release an army of the dead on them. They stayed there for a long while until Nico made a face, remembering something.

“By the way, where did you put my sword. I totally forgot I was looking for it when you guys came in.” Nico asked.

“Oh! It’s just-“ Will drew a blank. Where had he placed his sword. He didn’t remember taking it into his room with Nico. Did he leave it outside? No, he couldn’t have. Right? “Oh gods, I think I left it outside last night.”

Nico’s eyes went wide, “Will did you leave my sword, the one made of Stygian Iron, that can absorb souls, in your backyard?”

“Um-“ Will sucked in a sharp breath, “Yeah. Yup. I think I did.”

Nico sat bolt upright and grabbed his sword’s sheath. He quickly made his way to the door before a pair of hands pulled him back. 

“Nico. Let me go get your sword. I don’t want you moving around too much.” Will said earnestly, attempting to take the sheath from Nico’s grasp. He held it behind his back.

“Sunshine, I’m not risking you getting cut with it.”

“What about you. How do I know you’re not going to pass out and impale yourself with it?” 

“That’s not going to happen, Will.” 

“Whatever, I’m coming with you though.” 

“Fine.” He sighed and led the two of them out of the room. Nico wanted to avoid seeing any of Will’s family at the moment so they didn’t question him or stop him from getting his sword. It would be catastrophic if anyone got cut with it. Will and Nico quietly maneuvered down the stairs. They could hear Naomi in the laundry room, just past the kitchen. Will unlocked the door and he and Nico slipped out. When they reached the backyard, they gaped at the carnage left from the previous night’s battle. The giant holes in the earth were still present and remains of the bronze bull littered the grass. 

Nico, shaking out of his stupor, scanned the area for his weapon. Off towards the back left corner, he spotted it. Carefully avoiding holes and scraps of metal, Nico trotted over to the spot. He carefully picked up his blade and sheathed it, placing it at his side. The familiar weight of the weapon put him at ease. Will was off to his side, staring at something on the ground. When he looked over, he saw exactly what it was. It was a large dried patch of Nico’s blood. ‘cute’ he thought as he stared at the massacre. Will looked at Nico and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Okay, Neeks. Let’s get you back inside. I forgot just how much blood you lost.” Nico laughed at him and followed him back to the door. He internally promised himself that he’d come back out later and clean up at least some of this mess. Right now, he just wanted to go back inside and lay in bed with Will. Although, of course, that didn’t happen. When Will opened the door, they were met with Naomi Solace who was standing there looking at them expectantly. They shrunk under her accusatory gaze. Before they could explain why they were out of the house, the woman tackled Nico in a tight hug. He tried to hide his wince when she hugged him, but must of failed because Will was promptly pulling her off of him, saying she was going to hurt him.

“Oh! Sorry, honey!” She looked at him guiltily, “Are you okay?”

“Oh – I’m fine. Don’t worry about it,” Nico smiled and Will smirked at him amusedly out of Naomi’s view. 

“Okay – good, good.” Naomi breathed and wiped her hands on her apron. She stepped aside, “Let’s get you two back inside. We can sit down together in the living room.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I hope you enjoyed reading this! There will be at least one more chapter after this, so stay tuned <3


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